


The Human's Zoo

by AliceMayWrite



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-08
Updated: 2020-05-08
Packaged: 2021-03-02 20:01:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,341
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24072601
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AliceMayWrite/pseuds/AliceMayWrite
Summary: Steven and Connie go to the zoo in Bayburgh for their anniversary, only to see a familiar face when they get inside...
Relationships: Connie Maheswaran & Steven Universe, Connie Maheswaran/Steven Universe
Kudos: 26





	The Human's Zoo

**Author's Note:**

> I'm sort of ignoring Steven Universe Future for the time being lol

The sun was just beginning to rise over the ocean, and Beach City was bathed in a brilliant yellow light. Steven blinked as the sunlight hit his window and streamed in, coaxing him awake.  
As soon as his eyes opened, he smiled widely. Today was the day.

It had been exactly a year since he, Steven Universe, had asked out Connie Mahaeswaran- and she had said yes. In their eyes, they had basically been dating since they had met, all those years ago. Now he was seventeen and she was nearly sixteen.  
So much older, and wiser, and with so much more to learn. Or, as he saw it- finally the struggles of the past were over, and they had time to recover, and see what the future holds- together.

Steven rolled out of bed and let out a long, contended sigh. He picked up his phone, which had somehow made its way onto the floor in the night and checked for any messages.  
There were three.

**Connie: Hey! I’ll get to yours around ten, okay? Are we going by lion?**

Steven smiled. Whenever he saw that she had sent him a message, he still got that swirly feeling inside, like his heart was trying to escape his chest. That hadn’t faded, even though it had been a year.  
He considered for a moment, before typing a reply.

**Steven: Hi, that’s great! I don’t think we should take Lion, though. He might become friends with the other lions at the zoo and want to stay forever!**

He smirked to himself- that was a funny joke.  
Before he had time to check who the other two messages were from, Connie had sent him a reply.

**Connie: Fair enough! And it’s definitely an animal friendly one, right?**

Steven replied that it was. He had done extensive research on the matter- he hadn’t been able to get the image out of his head from when he, Connie and Amethyst went to a petting zoo last year. It had been in terrible condition, and Connie couldn’t help but cry about it.  
They had been quick to report it. No, this one was better- it was in Baybergh! It was fine.

Steven scrolled down to find the other two messages on his phone. One of them was from Amethyst. He chuckled to himself- she always felt the need to text him random things, despite the fact she resided just below his room, and could just as easily show him whatever it was she wanted to show.  
Then again, the text was time stamped from 3:01am, so he was quite glad she had opted to text him whatever it was… and, it was a picture of her fitting the entire TV in her mouth. Yep, that seemed about right. He made a mental note to check that it was still intact later, before finding the final message.

Ah, just a nice text from Onion. And it was just three full stops.  
Okay, moving on.

-

Steven dressed quickly, and thundered down the stairs, excited for the day.  
He was quickly greeted by Pearl, who was tutting over something. He hurried over.

“Hey Pearl! Are you okay?”  
Pearl jumped and turned to him, gracing him with a smile.  
“Oh! Steven!” She stepped aside to reveal the crushed TV- bits of it were spread across the house- one part had even somehow become lodged in the wooden roof. Steven sighed.  
“Amethyst, right?” Pearl nodded.  
“Honestly. She’s lucky I have four of them stored in my gem, or I would be really annoyed right now.”  
Steven laughed a little, before making his way over to the cupboard and pulling out a packet of toasting waffles. He popped them in the toaster before turning back round to Pearl, who had in that thirty seconds of time somehow managed to clean the entire mess. Steven raised his eyebrows.

“So, Steven,” she said with a smile. “You’re going to the zoo, right?” Steven nodded.  
“Yep! Just waiting for Connie to get here, then we’ll be off. I’ll take the Dondai.”  
“Be careful when drive to get a look at the menagerie,” Pearl instructed, and Steven had to chuckle again.  
“Don’t worry Pearl- I passed my test with flying colours! We’ll be fine. And it's a zoo, not a- what was that word?”  
Pearl smiled at him. “Oh, Steven. To think… you can drive now… and… and…”  
Steven could sense imminent disaster, given how watery her eyes had gotten, so swiftly moved around to give her a hug.  
“Don’t cry, Pearl.”

-

Connie arrived within fifteen minutes, and after Steven was able to prise Pearl off him, convincing her again and again that none of the animals at the zoo could escape or eat him, they were in the car. He looked around and spotted Amethyst sleeping on the balcony but saw no sign of Garnet.  
It was only when Steven shut the door that he was able to turn around and look at his girlfriend. She was smiling at him, her eyes so bright that he had to grin back.

“Happy anniversary,” she said softly.  
“Happy anniversary,” he mirrored, and the two leaned in for a kiss.  
Steven started the engine, and Connie adjusted her seat, prompting him to laugh.  
“I swear, it’s never the right way for you.”  
“Steven! It has to be right for me to properly enjoy the road trip. I swear, I don’t know what Amethyst does in here, but it’s never right after she gets out.”

The two drove for about an hour, laughing and reminiscing about the year they had spent together. There had been no downsides, none that either of them could recall. Sure, they had started off a little clumsy- a little new. But they were right for each other, and they could grow together.

-

Once they arrived at the zoo, it was a flurry of activity from the car park to inside the zoo itself. Steven had never been to this zoo before and had gasped in amazement at the display of bright colours at the entrance, and the vast expanse of the park itself.  
Connie had paid for the tickets- she said it was the least she could do, since Steven refused to let her pay for petrol. And then they were inside.

“Do we need a map?” Steven asked, pointing to a stand just by the entrance, where a selection of maps was stuffed inside. Connie simply smiled.  
“I downloaded one onto my phone last night- I’ve plotted the perfect route for us, which maximises time and allows us to hit every big enclosure before it closes.”  
She showed Steven her phone, and Steven was impressed by the dedication.  
Each enclosure was represented by a silhouette of the animal that resided there. After a second, he spotted something in the middle.

“Um- what’s that?” he asked, pointing.  
The silhouette itself looked like some kind of… rhino. But it had five horns, and a tail. He squinted, but underneath the picture, where the name would usually be, were simply the words “NEW EXHIBIT.” His stomach sank a little- something was wrong.  
Connie seemed to catch his expression, so she turned the phone to herself and had a look. She too frowned.

“That’s odd. I didn’t notice that last night. To be fair, I was up until 3am doing it, so maybe I just got tired.” Steven rolled his eyes before hooking his arm around her shoulders.  
“Connie, you need to stop doing that. Listen, can we maybe go there first? I know you have a route plotted out and everything, but something doesn’t sit right with me.”  
He looked around the park, and now he noticed, there were multiple banners advertising this secret “new exhibit.” The fact it wasn’t saying what animal it was made Steven concerned.  
Connie seemed to catch onto this, because she nodded.”  
Okay. But then we loop around and do my route?” Steven laughed.  
“Of course.”

-

It wasn’t long before they had reached the enclosure. The day was bright, and Steven squinted as he turned the corner, surprised by the sudden increase in volume.  
There was a large crowd of people blocking the view of the enclosure, which seemed to be in a large pit of sorts, surrounded by a large cage which sloped upwards. A man on a platform with a microphone was speaking loudly.  
“New in today, found on Mask Island just last week! The mystery creature!”  
Steven and Connie looked at each other, dubious, and began to get closer.  
As the man continued to advertise the creature, whatever it was let out a roar from down below, and this made Steven jolt in panic. He and Connie pushed through the people, and soon they were at the front.

The two looked down to see a corrupted gem at the base of the enclosure, roaring and crying. Steven turned to Connie, whose eyes were wide with panic.  
“Steven!” she yelled. “It’s a gem! What do we do?”  
“I have to get down there,” he replied instantly. “If I poof her, I can heal her.”  
“How do we get you down there?” Connie responded. “There are loads of people here, they’ll all- Steven?!”

Steven leapt up onto the bars of the cage, and was running up it to get to the top. He ignored the gasps of the crowd, and the yells from the indignant man with the microphone.  
He reached the top of the cage and looked around for a way to get in. Before he could blink, however, he heard a voice calling out to him.

“Steven!”  
He looked over to see Garnet, who was leaping up the cage to get to him. His eyes widened in surprise.  
“Garnet?! What are you doing here?”  
Garnet took a second to adjust her glasses, before giving him a small smile.  
“Future vision. I’m here to help this gem.”  
Steven grinned at her, before turning to look back at Connie, who gave him a big thumbs up.  
Spurned on by this, he prised apart the metal on the cage, and he and Garnet were able to jump down into the enclosure.

The enclosure itself had a section that was densely packed with trees, and this was where they landed. Steven was quick to jump off the trees and onto the sandy ground below, watching as the corrupted gem turned and roared at him- surprised by his presence.  
He could still hear the crowd hollering from above, but there was a noise of microphone interference, before Connie’s voice came through, clear as a bell.

“That’s not a mystery creature- it’s a gem who’s in pain and my boyfriend is here to save her!”  
Steven felt his heart surge, and that helped him as he ran over to the creature. He felt Garnet pick him up and throw him, and as he soared through the air he created his shield.  
He threw it at the gem, deflecting her swinging arm as she to hit him and it bounced off her.  
He winced a little as it hit her. He was never a fan of fighting them, but this was the only way to get them safely to the fountain to be healed.

The corrupted gem staggered back, confused, but quickly tried to return and attack. It swung again, and Garnet deflected it this time.  
Steven landed back on the ground, and began to create his pink bubble, which grew and grew, pushing the corrupted gem backwards as it roared in fright.  
Quickly, while the gem was distracted, Garnet came up from behind and swiped with her weapon, instantly poofing the gem.  
It fell to the floor and Steven hurried over, bubbling her so that as soon as they returned home, she could be restored to her true self.

Steven and Garnet smiled at each other before the two jumped out of the cage.  
They were met with a silent crowd, and Connie standing on the platform.  
“So I was all like _what- we fused?!_ And he was like- Steven! Are you okay?”  
She hurried over to him and the two shared a kiss. Steven nodded, grinning.  
“Yep! All good. What are you doing?” Connie blushed.  
“Oh- I was explaining about corrupted gems to these Baybergh people. Apparently, they don’t see many gems around here.”  
“It sounded like you were telling them about… me and you.” Connie blushed harder.  
“Oh, well… maybe a little.”

Garnet chuckled from beside them.  
“You did a good job today. I’ll see you later.”  
And then she leapt up into the air, disappearing from sight. Connie and Steven looked at each other, grinning a little, before hopping down from the platform and walking away.

-

“So… what did you like the most?”  
“The lions- definitely.”  
“You can’t just say lions because of lion!”  
“Y-yes I can!”  
The two were back in Steven’s room after the long day. They had spent the rest of their zoo time looking in wonder at the animals, and then they had hurried home to cure the corrupted gem at the fountain, and now they were exhausted.  
Connie had told her Mum she was staying over, and now they were lying on Steven’s bed, looking at the ceiling, where a load of glow in the dark stars were softly shining above them.

“Hey,” Connie said softly, turning to face him. “You did a good job today.” Steven sighed heavily.  
“Thanks. I just wish I hadn’t had to fight her. All those people must have thought I was… insane.”  
Connie shook her head fervently. “No way. I told them the truth.”  
“And what’s the truth?” he asked with a small smile. Connie shrugged.  
“You’re great. And you’re _Steven Universe_. You saved the world.” Steven chuckled.  
“You helped.”  
“Yes. Yes I did.”

The two leaned over to kiss each other before Connie burrowed her head into his shoulder, mumbling something. Steven looked down, bemused.  
“Sorry, what was that?” Connie lifted her head tiredly.  
“I said happy anniversary.” Steven laughed and kissed her on the head.  
“Happy anniversary.”

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed!


End file.
